A KNOT IN THE GRAIN AND OTHER STORIES
by Robin McKinley
Four stories (three previously published in Ace anthologies in the early '80s), set (like The Blue Sword, etc.) in mythical Damar, plus a contemporary fifth; the four are romances, the fifth concerns a girl adapting to a new place. Damar, here, is a generic land where princes, witches, and magic reign; characters tend to be symbolic and happenings allegorical. A mute healer finds a voice through a spent wizard; a princess "rescued" by a prince prefers her troll. In the new entry, a comely lass marries a man old enough to be her father; the two must find the real love between them in order to control a magic that threatens to overwhelm them. Though more austere and fragmented, these tales have the luminosity that made McKinley's earlier books so memorable. The title piece, in which a 16-year-old finds a box of — well, something magical — that helps her new town ward off a superhighway, is leisurely and inconclusive. Still, for the contemplative, a quality performance. (Fiction. 12+)